Santa Can You Hear Me
by IceAngelDarkMoon
Summary: Tala gets stranded in ht emiddle of now where the night before Christmas, he ends up staying at this blue haired man's house, but why do memeories of another blue haired man keep popping up? Can Christmas remind him of all hte things he's made himself for


Santa can you hear me?

(With a little red ribbon…the tradition continues)

IceAngelDarkMoon

*********I started this last year as a Christmas present to my friend who has since become my beta reader for me. Last year it was a Yu-Gi-Oh fic which we ourselves starred in, and I got to play matchmaker with her and a character. But this year I got struck with a really neat Christmas story for one of her favorite pairings and I just couldn't get over it so I decided to write it out. And the funny thing is the tradition of the red bow continues! Look for the infamous red bow! ~~Ice Angel~~*********

^^^^^^^^^^^This is shonen-ai, slash, boy love, whatever you call it, if you don't like then leave. If you're curious stay but don't think I care if you don't like it, there will be nothing graphic, just a few kisses, some hugging, and some hand holding. Basic fluffiness will ensue! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

@@@Song was sung by Brittney Spears, and I hate her in general although I do enjoy some of her music. I liked the song, but if given the chance of not messing up my storyline I would have used Dido's Christmas Day song. I highly suggest it to anyone in need a well sung beautifully bittersweetish Christmas song! Lyrics will be in italics!@@@

######I don't own the BeyBlade boys, so I've only borrowed them for this story. But the plot and the arrangement are mine so hands off!#####

I don't watch the new season of BeyBlade so this is all written as if that never happened these events start taking place after the World Tournament. The story itself though takes place when the characters are about 20ish, and the rest will be explained in the story, Enjoy!!

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Why did it have to be snowing? Tala needed to get to that hotel so he could carry out that business meeting the next morning. These old back roads had not seen a single salt truck in a long time; there was snow at least five inches deep on the road. There was a sudden grinding sound and then his car, although still on, stopped moving forward. The red-head gave a sigh and a few muttered curses at the car, something about its mother being a dishwasher. He was just starting to peer into the inky abyss that was outside the car's headlights when the almost blizzard like snow condition seemed to lift for a few seconds and a little country house just about 100 yards away came into focus.

The small one story ranch was illuminated by outside lights and there was a light on in the window. Tala thought this strange since he had not seen another house in a while on this road, but he wouldn't look this gift horse in the mouth. He turned the car's engine off, and pulled his coat tighter around him and started for the house. Just as suddenly as the snow had ceased a moment before to show him the house it picked up just as he stepped out. He could see nothing but a faint glow from where the house lights were. Putting an arm up to shield his face and braving the wind he set out for those lights. After what seemed like hours, but was in fact thirty minutes later, he was on the front stoop of the house.

            He took a moment to ponder briefly who could live in this house out in the middle of nowhere. He hoped it wasn't some gun wielding hick that as soon as he opened the door would have a gun in Tala's face. Suddenly he realized there was nothing he could do if the people inside did have a gun, there was nowhere else he could go, besides all he really needed to do was call his boss and get a tow or salt truck to come get him. With a deep breath he knocked on the door, the only thing he hoped for was that the person wouldn't turn out to be a murderer (that's not a good person to be stuck with!)

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_Ooh yeah   
Last night I took a walk in the snow  
Couples holding hands - places to go  
Seems like everyone but me is in love  
Santa, can you here me?_

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            Kai sat on his window seat watching the snow lazily dancing its way to the cold earth below. The white dancers looked like falling stars in the inky black abyss outside. Kai couldn't help feeling the familiar pain in his chest; maybe pain wasn't the right word, more like a dull aching numbness that spread throughout his body. It had been four, maybe five years since he had left, left everyone behind to a life without him, he had stopped counting when it just made the numbness more intense to remember it too clearly. 

            He hated that this was the way it had to be, but he knew this was for everyone else's best interest, not what he wanted. He didn't regret his choice, only wished that there could have been some other option. He didn't want any of the others hurt because of him; they had done nothing wrong and didn't deserve it. He didn't care if he himself got hurt, he could deal with it, and right now he was more than willing to face the nightmare of his past if it ended everything, it was a very welcoming idea at the moment. What hurt the most was that he had never gotten the chance to tell Tala how he really felt about the fiery red head, but that day he just couldn't tell him; not after what he had seen, that day he left.

            He laughed humorlessly to himself, here he was again, alone again on Christmas Eve. He knew he should be used to it by now; he had spent almost every Christmas and Christmas Eve of his life alone. In fact he had spent most of his life alone. He still…

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

            "Who would be here on Christmas Eve? The closest neighbor is a mile away!" He thought to himself. "What if it's Voltaire?" (he still couldn't call that man 'Grandfather') He panicked for a moment at the thought of the man he had been running from for too many years. Suddenly Kai calmed and thought to himself, "It it's him I don't care enough, he can take me back or kill me. I just can't care any more." With that he silently rose and opened the front door to the chilling night air.

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_I sent my letter that I sealed with a kiss  
I send it off and just said this  
I know exactly what I want this year   
Santa, can you hear me ?_

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            "It really is cold out here, I'm glad this house was here," Tala thought to himself while pulling his coat tighter around his lithe form. He heard the lock slide and the door opened. There stood a young man about his age. The man wore a sleeveless light blue turtle neck, dark blue cargo pants, and a two tone knit beanie on his head. The hat pushed the young man's light blue hair over his eyes, shielding them from the world's view. The rest of his hair stuck out of the bottom of the hat in back showing he kept his hair a little longer. The loss of being able to view his eyes cast an air of mystery about the already handsome young man, making him all the more desirable, instead of taking away from his beauty. The blue hair sparked a memory long suppressed by Tala; it was of another young man with blue hair, only his was two toned, and he had bright crimson eyes. Tala shook it off, the flash of memory of the nameless boy already forgotten. (I.e. he's forgotten Kai for some reason!)

            "I'm sorry to be calling so late, but my car got stuck on the road by your house and since you were the only house in view I came here. May I use your phone?" Tala asked and turned while he was talking to gesture to his car. By turning he missed the glint of the hidden eyes as they carefully studied him.

            "Give me a moment." The light blue haired man said in a deep voice like honey. Without giving Tala a chance to respond or even acknowledge he had heard, the man shut the door.       

            From the other side of the door Tala heard some yelling, it sounded vaguely like this, "Someone up there must hate me, and they really must. Why couldn't you have sent the apocalypse, complete with some fire and brimstone to finish the deal? Why me? Haven't I had to suffer enough already, why torment me?!?" But Tala wasn't sure because the door was closed, he had to wonder briefly if the man inside was mentally stable or not, but again there was nothing he could do if the man wasn't. The door then opened again and the other man appeared like he had before; completely composed.

            "Sorry the cat was in the Christmas tree again. (Don't laugh it's not fun to get cat's out of a 12 foot tree, I know from experience!)" The blue haired man sighed as he motioned for Tala to come in. "Please leave your boots here," the host stated in a command, not a request kind of way. Tala took a moment while he was undoing his laces to look up at the man before him, but he couldn't decide whether the man looked angry that he was there or what, no emotions were present on the man's face. In the light of the house Tala could see that the man's skin, although it was flawlessly tan and perfect, something looked off. In his mind Tala saw a flash of four blue triangles on someone's face, but then the memory quickly faded. This left him agitated, who was this person from his past that kept popping up?

            Standing up after he had his boots off Tala followed the host to what he presumed was the kitchen considering the stove, microwave, and refrigerator in the room. The other man pointed wordlessly to the phone on the far side. Tala thanked the man and quickly dialed his boss's number.

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_I want my baby, baby  
I want someone to love me someone to hold  
Maybe, Maybe  
Be all my own in a big red bow  
Santa, can you hear me ?  
I have been so good this year  
And all I want is one thing  
Tell me my true love is here  
He's all I want just for me underneath my Christmas tree  
I'll be waiting here  
Santa that's MY only wish this year._

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            "What the heck is 'HE' doing here?!?" Kai wondered, "Of all the people that could possibly end up at my doorstep, the only one I'm truly afraid to see. The man that holds my heart and doesn't know it, the man whom I fear for the most because he knows what the pain that Voltaire can inflict just as well as I do. At least he doesn't seem to recognize me, or maybe he doesn't remember me, it has been at least four years. I don't know if I'm happy about that or not." Kai quietly wondered to himself as he watched Tala make his phone call. Suddenly he felt something cold and wet touching his foot; he looked down to see his cat looking back up at him. The black and white, long furred, fur ball looked up at him a started purring. Kai smiled his sad smile which was all he could do any more and picked up his cat, it was the only thing that had kept him sane these past few years. He had found it abandoned on his road, all its litter mates were dead by the time he found them. This one had been fighting to stay alive, so he kept it and nursed it back to life. He and the cat had made a bond and the cat seemed to be able to tell when he was upset or happy and would always be there for him.

            "If you send a salt truck or something I can still make it tonight," Tala spoke into the phone. Although he wasn't trying to Kai could hear both sides of the conversation, Tala's boss spoke just as loudly as if he were in the room with them.

            "I told ya before boy that you didn't need to be at the meeting you need a break, consider this it. You work too hard, you never leave the office, how do you expect to meet any nice girls this way? I can see it's starting to wear you out, so this is an order to get some rest, besides there is nobody that's going to go and get you on Christmas Eve, people have families and such to be with as it should be." The boss commanded in a loud Texan accent. Kai could see Tala roll his eyes at his boss from across the room, and decided to take his stand.

            "You can stay here if you need to." Kai offered while holding his purring fur ball. "Everyone should have someone to spend Christmas Eve with." He gave a small smile, but Tala could see all the horrible sadness that lay behind it.

            "Are you sure I won't mess things up for you? Besides you don't even know me." Tala didn't like invading upon people, but he had a feeling this man needed someone to talk to. There were some questions coming out of the phone but Tala paid them no heed. 

Kai gave a nod, "It's no problem, and it was just going to be me and Missile anyway." He indicated that Missile was the ball of purring fur. Tala nodded back and returned to the phone.

"The man who let me use his phone says I can spend the night at his house. I told you before I don't want to settle down just yet, and I have no family to spend these kinds of things with…" Tala started to tell his boss before he was cut off.

"I don't care if you don't want to you need to, there is more to life than work, and even if you don't have anybody there are people that care, and there are people just waiting for you. Besides, you just need to find someone to love, you're too uptight!" With that his boss cut the line and Tala just stared at the phone beeping at him in his hands. Kai almost laughed at what had just transpired, it was unusual for a boss to care about his workers and he had never heard of one telling his workers to go fall in love.

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_Christmas Eve - I just can't sleep  
Will I be wrong just taking a peek?  
Cause that I heard that you're coming to town  
Santa, can you hear me?  
I really hope you're on your way  
With Something special for me in your sleigh  
Ooh please make my wish come true   
Santa, can you hear me ?_

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            Tala slowly put the phone back in it's holder on the wall, still in shock. He'd never even been in like with someone, how could his boss expect him to fall in love? He decided it was all too complicated for the time being and his brain was pretty fried. There was still one thing he wanted to ask the man who was letting him spend the night.

            "You said that everyone should have someone to spend Christmas Eve with, but what about you? There is no one else here except the cat right?" Tala was confused whether the guy was a hypocrite or what.

            Kai gave his sad smile one more time and sighed, "I don't deserve to count as everyone else, and besides this year it was my choice to be alone. I've always been alone so it doesn't matter to me." He turned and put the cat down and started for where Tala had left his shoes.

            "Wait, what do you mean you don't count and if you want to be alone, I can leave." Tala called out, there was a feeling deep in his being that he should try and make this man happy. Kai shook his head at Tala's protest.

            "I chose to leave others behind, and when I offered you a place to sleep I meant it, I won't take the offer back." Kai was back where they had left Tala's boots and the blue haired man was reaching for his own pair of boots. "Here, you might need these," the blue haired man stated as he handed Tala a pair of knitted gloves, hat, and scarf.

            "Are we going outside?" Tala asked looking confusedly at the things in his hand.

            "I assume you have some luggage or something out in the car you might need, and it's better to head out now than later when the storm gets worse." The blue haired man said knowingly. He had pulled on a coat and gloves, since he already had a hat on, but he himself did not wear a scarf.

            "You're right I need my pajamas, and some of my business stuff. Did you want your scarf back; I see you didn't put one on?" Tala didn't want to make his host cold.

            "No it's all right, I don't wear scarves any more, besides I grew up were it was cold almost all the time (and not just temperature wise either), so I don't get cold that easily." With that he opened the door and stepped out into the frigid night air and the falling stars (snowflakes).

            "Oh that's a good thing." Tala replied, even though he himself had grown up in such a cold place he still felt this cold. There was another memory trigger of someone holding him to keep in warm on a cold winter night, but then again in a flash it was gone before he could see the other person's face. Then a sudden though struck him, "I never introduced myself to you did I? I'm Tala." He extended his hand for a handshake, the blue haired man looked at him for a moment, and a look akin to pain crossed his features before he extended his gloved hand to rest in Tala's slightly larger ungloved hand.

            "I'm…Kyle." 

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_I want my baby, baby  
I want someone to love me someone to hold  
Maybe, Maybe  
we'll be all alone under the mistletoe   
Santa, can you hear me?  
I have been so good this year  
And all I want is one thing  
Tell me my true love is here  
He's all I want just for me- underneath my Christmas tree  
I'll be waiting here  
Santa that's my only wish this year_

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            Kai, or now Kyle, didn't know what else to say, if Tala hadn't recognized him yet why trigger a memory and make him remember. It was safer this way he told himself, but for some reason he was having trouble convincing himself of that now. He gave a sigh as he pulled his hand away from Tala, and started out the door.

            "Come on, I wanted to watch my movie tonight, so we'd better hurry so I can watch it all." With that they started their long trek to the car and back inside.

***************Little bit later after the trek***************

Here this will help warm you back up." Kai offered as he handed the now blue lipped Tala while he sat on the couch in front of the fire.

            "Th…Th…Thank you." Tala spoke in a voice just barely above a whisper. He hated this, he hated the cold, it always brought back memories of his past; his life at the abbey and all the horrible things that had happened there. All the things he had ever loved had been taken by that place, material things and people, at least one person. Again he couldn't pull up a name or face in his memory. Trying to distract himself from his thoughts he decided to talk to Kyle about the movie since he was going to watch it too. 

            "S…So what movie is it that you wanted to watch so badly?"  Tala asked as Kyle was putting in the DVD. He was much better now that his insides were warmed and his fingers were getting the feeling back in them. Kyle looked over at Tala on the couch, or what seemed to be him looking at Tala, since Tala couldn't see his eyes. He was beginning to wonder if Kyle really had eyes under his hair, and if he did what color they were. It was something that made him curious.

            "It's a Shakespearean production," The blue haired man started, he gave a quick almost embarrassed smile, "its one of my favorites. The Twelfth Night or What You Will. It's funny if you understand Shakespeare." Kyle shrugged his shoulders at what he had said. The DVD main screen came up behind his head just then. (I don't know if this movie has made it to DVD yet, but for my purpose it has! And it is an AWESOME movie to watch, even better than the book, and that's saying something!)

            "I think I remember that one, it's the one with the girl dressed up as a guy, and she's named Viola or Cesario, right? Who joins the Duke's court to serve the Countess because she thinks they feel a similar pain at the lose a brother. But the lady whom she's trying to win over for her master loves her, and she loves the master who loves the Countess. Am I right?" Tala recited, after he started talking it all came back to him. There was another memory flash; him holding someone in his arms while they read the book aloud for them both to enjoy. But the person in his arms was again facing away, their face shielded from him yet again. This was now starting to grate on his nerves, why couldn't he remember?

            "Yes that's it, have you read it then?" Kyle looked a little surprised but it was hard to tell.

            "Kind of someone I knew liked it a lot and read it to me." He spoke before he stopped to consider, how had he known the person in his arms loved the play?

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_I hope my letter reaches you in time  
Woooo yeah  
Bring me a love that I can call all mine  
Cause I have been so good this year  
Can't be alone under the mistle toe  
He's all I want in a big red bow_

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            Is it too much to hope it's me he remembers? Kai wondered to himself as the beginning of the movie started. How many other people would have read him the play? Was it a good thing or not if it was himself that Tala was remembering, would  it make it harder to stay hidden from him?

            "Who was the person? They must have been close or cared about you to have spent so much time to read you the play." Kai held his breath without realizing it. Tala looked at him and gave a humorless laugh. Kai was now the one confused.

            "That's just the problem, I can't remember. It's been happening all night; the memories are just a few flashes about one person and that one person is never facing me, their face never remembered. It's almost as if I purposely forgot the person, blanking them out of my past completely. I do know we were close, that much I can remember."  Tala was now very embarrassed because he figured he must sound off kilter if he couldn't even remember an important person from his past.

            Kai gave a small smile, but Tala again couldn't tell the meaning behind it. "Sometimes the mind does what it thinks it needs to to get through some things that are very hard to handle, and memories come back later when the person is ready to deal with them or the person is confronted with the problem again."

            "Maybe you're right, but why now?" Tala mused to himself; Kai was just barely able to make the words out. Could it be that somewhere in Tala's mind he had suppressed all memories of Kai, and now subconsciously he recognized him?

            Kai quickly lost himself in the movie. He always felt almost like he was Viola in a way. It was her love of the Duke, and her pushing that away for her duty to him to try and win over the Countess for him. He was startled out of his thoughts and movie watching by a question from Tala, just after Viola had basically confessed her love to the Duke, who  thought she was telling the story of her sister who pined for a man and never told him.

            "Have you ever loved someone and never told them? Tala asked almost shyly, Kai gave a snort of disgust for his own answer to the question.

            "It's the story of my life, if you will, only I dare say it's more like Viola's predicament where I can't tell them because of duty, and love for them. I wanted them happy so much I had to push my feelings away especially since the person I loved liked someone else, I just couldn't tell them then. I haven't seen them in years so it doesn't matter now anyway." Kai knew his voice sounded stoic and emotionless, but it really hurt him deep down to know he had run away from it all. "What about you, have you never told someone?" Kai couldn't help it, it just rolled off his tongue before he realized. He knew the answer could only bring him more pain instead of solace.

            "I…I don't think I have, but I've never felt strongly enough about someone to want to tell them that, at least not that I remember. Anything I could possibly love as a child was taken from me before I could become too attached."

            "I know what you mean." Kai muttered. They shared a common past after all. Everything good had been ripped from them and the cruel hurtful things were the commonplace items.

            They watched the rest of the movie in companionable silence. It seemed to Kai that time had passed since the last time things had been like this: that time right after the World Tournament and before he left. But even though they were now strangers to each other they still would always share that common bond of their past, and Kai, hoped a common bond of friendship. Inside though, Kai now confirmed, he still felt the same for Tala as he had when he had left, if anything the feelings had grown.

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_Santa, can you hear me?  
I have been so good this year  
And all I want is one thing  
Tell me my true love is here  
He's all I want, just for me   
Underneath my Christmas tree  
I'll be waiting here  
Santa, that's my only wish this year_

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            As the movie finished Tala wondered why he hadn't watched the movie more often, his friend had been right, it was a beautiful play, and Kyle was right too. He also realized he couldn't remember a time he had felt more relaxed than he had watching that movie with Kyle next to him. It was almost like there was a bond between them, but he was unaware of why it was there.

            Kyle slowly stood up from the couch after the actors' names had stopped flashing across the screen. He slowly stood on his tiptoes and reached above his head with his hands, it was obviously his way of stretching after a movie. Tala couldn't help the warmth that collected at the pit of his stomach at the small glimpse of flesh he had caught peaking out of Kyle's shirt. 'I shouldn't feel this way, I can't be thinking these things,' was all his rational part of the brain could come up with.

            "Do you need anything else before we go to sleep?" Kyle asked after he had turned off the DVD player and the television. He was now halfway in a closet pulling out some blankets and a pillow. Tala couldn't answer right away because his heart was being mutinous again, something about the rear that was facing him as Kyle got something out of the bottom of the closet  'I need to know why I feel this way, what's happening to me?'

            "No I should be fine, I just need to know where the bathroom is so I can change and finish getting ready for bed." Tala answered while he turned to busy himself with his suitcase of stuff. Maybe if he just ignored what he was feeling it would go away. Suddenly there was something soft and fuzzy brushing up against his arm; "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" was his intelligent response to the contact. He looked down into startled green eyes, and a furry face.

            "Sorry I thought you'd seen me holding him earlier, that's Missile," Kyle spoke from behind Tala as he dropped the bedding stuff on the couch. "Missile meet Tala, Tala meet Missile. There, you two are acquainted, so there should be no more problems. The bathroom is down that hallway you first came though on the left before the kitchen. He shouldn't bother you tonight; he prefers to sleep on my bed." Tala assumed Kyle was talking about the cat, and just nodded while he headed for the pre-mentioned bathroom to get ready to sleep. It seemed to him that Kyle was in a much better mood than when he had arrived earlier, he just hoped there was some way he could help the blue haired man with whatever it was that was bothering him. 

            He changed and brushed his teeth and finished all his nightly routine, and carried his stuff back out to his suitcase. Looking at the couch he saw it was too short for him to fit on it without either his head or feet sticking off, so he decided to put the blankets on the floor, close to the tree. After he was all set he was about to climb between the layers of blankets when a sound caught his attention. It was a soft almost sobbing sound coming from a door he had not realized was there before. The door of the room was barely cracked open but he crawled along the floor and looked through the small slit of the door.

            There in the room sat Kyle on what appeared to be his bed. He was half undressed, only in a pair of pajama pants; his shirt was off and in a pile on the floor a little ways from the bed with his pants. He sat with his head in his hands, sobs wracked his body. Although he still had his hat on and his face was covered Tala knew he was crying. His thin form was shaking and it took all of Tala's willpower not to run in there and hold the other man. He suddenly heard the soft words coming from the other boy in between his sobs, "Why, why, why?" One word repeated over and over. Just as Tala was about to stand up from his spot and go to the other man, Kyle took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself, removing his hands from his face and standing up. His back was now to the snooping red head, but the snoop was horrified by the sight that met him. Littered across the blue man's back were numerous scars crisscrossing each other and entwining like a lurid masterpiece. The scars looked so much like the ones that covered his own back, only these were more severe. Still facing the other way the scarred boy reached forward and pulled out his top, and pulled it over his head, covering the scars on his back. Slowly he pulled off the hat and tossed it in the pile with his shirt and pants. Still facing away he reached out and turned off the lamp by his bed and Tala could see by the faint light of the hallway he was in that Kyle climbed into his bed.

            Tala sat there for a moment in dumb confusion before he turned away from the door and back to where he was supposed to be sleeping. What had he just seen? What was it that had caused all of those marks across the other boy's back? Why had Kyle been so upset? All these questions and more flew through his head as he crawled between the blankets and slowly drifted off into a troubled sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            This was his chance now to try and help the things between his master and Tala. He didn't know if it would help, or even what really was going on, but he wanted to try and help. Ever since his master had found him that one day in winter a year before, he could sense the overpowering sadness that radiated off his blue haired master (I know cats are supposed to be color blind but this is a special cat, it's Missile the Yaoi kitty, don't ask it's a joke between the beta and me!). Now that this man had come to their house the sadness had grown even stronger, and yet Missile could sense the love between the two. All he had to do was finish getting that thing off the box, it wasn't like the box was going to be delivered anyway, they were the same as last years, sitting there waiting for people Kai had left behind. There his work was finished, now to go get some well deserved rest until it was time to finish the job in the morning!

~~~~~~~~~~(This is going to be a little choppy but that was done on purpose to make it seem more like a dream, it's more of a visual helper!)~~~~~~~~~~

            It was a nightmare, or a dream, it was neither one nor the other really, he knew that much, but like so many other times there was no escaping it; there was no way to wake up. At least not until the dream had made a point. But what was this dream of his past trying to prove?

            The scenes started to play out for him like a movie only he was one of the actors; only he had already lived all this once. There was Voltaire and Boris leering at him when his parents had died suddenly. He was tossed into the evil life at the abbey all on his own with no one who cared about him anymore.

His first mistake; he looked up and saw the whip in Boris' hand, ducking his head and holding his arms above his head he waited fro the blow to hit him. But he heard it hit something else. There in front of him stood a two-toned blue haired boy. The boy had caught the whip in his hand and was glaring at Boris, or at least that's what it appeared to Tala from his spot sitting behind the boy. Tala blinked and Boris and the whip were gone, only the blue haired boy remained in front of him, even the room had disappeared. The boy turned to face Tala, he was about Tala's age it appeared, and he had four blue triangle like markings on his face, two on each side of his chin, but the boy's eyes were still in the shadows; hidden from Tala's sight. He gave Tala a breathtaking smile that stretched across his whole face. IT was then Tala realized there was a bruise spreading across the otherwise unmarred skin of the boy's face, almost like someone had hit him very hard.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked in a child's lilting voice.

"I…I think so, thank you. I'm Tala." The boy extended his hand to help the still sitting Tala stand up. When their fingers met Tala felt a brief tingling in his fingers that spread throughout his body coming to rest finally in the pit of his stomach.

"I like you, we're going to be the best of friends, I'm…" The boy started, but where the blue haired boy had stood a moment before holding his hand still, now stood a girl. He remembered her slowly; she was the girl he had met right after the World Tournament. She was leaning closer and there was no where he could back up to, there was a tree right behind him. She was then kissing him, he closed his eyes like he'd seen in the movies, but something wasn't right; something was off. He felt nothing for her; it was merely a touch of skin, not a pleasurable experience, nothing like shooting fireworks. He pushed her away gently, she looked expectantly up at him, but when his eyes met hers he was assaulted by a mirage of memories. They flashed past him, in front of his eyes, like a rushing river during the spring thaw. And every memory had that blue haired boy in them, every single one.

There was one of them learning to beyblade, in the abbey. Receiving their first beyblades, the first thing in years that had actually been their own. There many instances of them sticking up for each other, fixing each other up after a beating. The cold winter nights of Russia spent together in one bed trying desperately to get warm enough. The boy leaving Tala and the abbey, seeing him again at the World Tournament, and watching the boy's new team beating Tala's own team. Waiting in the abbey to be beaten worse than he could imagine, only to be saved and freed by his life long friend. The free time always spent holding him, trying to stay warm, while he read to Twelfth Night to both of them.

Everything went by in a blink of the eye. The girl was again in front of him, clutching him and staring up at him. He heard a noise behind him so he turned away from the girl and towards the noise. Crystal blue eyes met crimson wide eyes, there staring at him, his face unreadable, was the boy. Before he could react the boy turned and started running away. Tala knew like he had never known anything else in his life, he needed to go after that boy, he had to catch him or it would all be lost.

"Wait!" He called as he tried to go after the blue haired boy, but the girl wouldn't let go of him. She was keeping him there, trying to keep him all to herself. The panic began to rise in him, he needed to get to the boy before something happened, but what was it? "Wait, please wait!" He tried again but the boy's back was getting smaller and further away. He yanked his arm free and ran with tears beginning to cloud his vision for reasons he dared not think about, not then at least. Then he called out one last time, the piece clicking in his mind before he even realized what he said, "WAIT…**KAI**!"

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_Ooh Santa  
Can you hear me?  
Ooh Santa  
Well he's all I want just for me   
underneath my Christmas tree  
_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Kai was woken out of his nightmares by Missile licking his nose persistently. Glancing at the clock he realized it was only seven in the morning, and the sun still wasn't out, but he knew he would be getting no more sleep this morning. Sighing he rolled out of bed, displacing Missile with an indignant squawk. Maybe he could watch Tala sleep for a little bit, he had enjoyed watching the other boy looking completely at ease while at the abbey many years before, and even when they had shared a room after he had rescued Tala from the abbey. But as he approached the door he could hear the other man groaning and mumbling in his sleep. He opened the door all the way and looked into the other room. His breath caught in his throat, choking him, at the sight waiting for him there.

            There on the floor was Tala, in only pajama pants; this left his chiseled stomach and chest in full view, as well as a few scars that covered them. Kai knew there would be even worse ones on his back, but somehow it just completed Tala, it had always been a part of both of them. Somehow during the night the man had scooted over and was now under the Christmas tree. And somehow a red bow from one of the packages, had gotten stuck in his hair (remember Missile!). It was like Tala was a present waiting for Kai. 'A present I can never have' Kai thought bitterly to himself as the tears began to well up in his crimson eyes. They began to spill out of his eyes and down his flawless cheeks. He was powerless to stop the flow of the tears.

            "Wait!" he heard, and through his blurry vision he saw Tala tossing around under the tree. "Wait, please wait!" The red head called out again from the depths of his slumber.

            'Damn him, he's probably dreaming about his old girlfriend or something.' Kai thought as he tried to stop his tears again. But he was surprised to hear more from the slumbering man.

            "WAIT…KAI!" With that Tala woke up in a cold sweat, so abruptly he almost knocked the tree over. He was panting from the dream and his cheeks were pleasantly flushed. Kai could do nothing but cover his face with his hands and burst into fresh tears.

            How was he supposed to deal with it if Tala remembered him now? He couldn't let the red head get hurt because he was with him. He could never let that happen, not even when he first met him all those years ago. He slowly collapsed into himself until he was sitting on the floor, head buried in his knees and his arms around his knees, letting his tears fall freely and silently from his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_I'll be waiting here…_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Tala was breathing hard, the dream had woken a lot of suppressed memories and now they were all fighting to be completely remembered. He remembered now the boy Kai, his best friend and only friend for so long. They had been so close growing up, they had been inseparable. They had been the only family and friends of they other for so long. Then Kai had disappeared after that day in the park, he had left a note and never been seen again. There had been some phone calls, but not to him at least. He had said he didn't want Voltaire to hurt anyone else. He couldn't stand to think he was responsible so he had left to keep everyone safe. He had decided this when Rei almost got killed while drinking Boba tea with Kai, that same day Tala had been at the park. He had called sporadically and never for more than thirty seconds, because he was afraid of being traced. But Tala had not remembered Kai any time after he left, he had locked up all those memories to protect himself, losing Kai was like losing a part of himself.

            It was in that instant it hit him, he was in love. He knew Kai and he had been close, he had never thought of life without Kai and when it happened it was too much. But now looking back he could see it had hit so hard not just because they were close but because he had been in love and not realized it. How had he been so dumb and let Kai slip away?

            A noise somewhere in the room caught his attention from his musing. It was a muffled sob like sound. He looked out from the tree and saw a light blue huddle shaking slightly on the ground by the couch. Tala crawled out of the tree (a slightly painful process) and over to the couch. It was Kyle, and he was crying again, and this time Tala couldn't stand by and watch the man cry. He put an arm around the shaking shoulders and pulled the man close to him. He felt the blue haired man stiffen and almost flinch away from him, but he held on until the other man began to relax and lean into his shoulder. The other man kept sobbing silently for a while longer; Tala just whispered quietly to him and rubbed his back soothingly.

            In a bit Tala pulled back a bit to get a better look at the other man. Although Kyle now had his hat off his eyes were still obscured by his hair. He looked down at the tears still falling from the hidden eyes. He caught sight of some blue on the man's cheek. 'What's this?' he asked himself silently, as he reached a hand up and rubbed away a tear. The path of his thumb left a little bit more blue on the cheek. Tala was now really confused and rubbed a little more on the cheek under his hand. The patch of blue became a little bigger until a second one started to appear. In the same moment he realized the blue was on the skin and not on his hands he felt the other man pull away. Kyle hissed under his breath and pushed Tala away by his shoulders roughly, in that instant their eyes met for a fraction of a second through Kyle's hair. Crystal blue met crimson ones, the pieces fell into place for the unbalanced red head. The hair, the scars, the blue marks, and finally the eyes. He'd found him finally.

            "Kai!" He whispered in a shocked voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Santa, that's my only wish this year_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            "Kai!" The red head had whispered, but it was enough for Kai, he knew even before that his cover was gone. He had known since the red head had awoken that morning that the charade was up. But he couldn't let Tala stay with him; he wouldn't let Tala get hurt. Even if it meant that he had to leave right then, at 7 in the morning on Christmas morning.

            He had pushed his love away and now he used that to his advantage to quickly scramble to his feet. As soon as they were under him he took off for his room. He had to pack and grab as much as he could and just leave, he couldn't stay no matter how much he wanted to. He thought he was in the clear when a hand grabbed his own and pulled him to a stop. He couldn't let Tala get hurt, he had to get away, so he began to struggle against the grip that held him. Just as he thought he was going to break free an arm reached out and grabbed him by the waist and hauled him to the ground. Before he could really react his hands were pinned above his head and Tala was sitting on his stomach.

            "Kai," Tala said again, looking down at the still struggling man beneath him, "I know it's you."

            "I know you know it's me, that's why I have to go, please get off me." Kai couldn't look into the other man's blue eyes; he knew he couldn't leave if he did.

            "Why do you have to go? I'll let you go if that's what you really want; I'd never force you to stay."

            "Is that what you really think? That I want to go? I've never wanted to have to leave, but that's just it I have to. I'd much rather be with you than always alone in foreign countries, but I can't." He was crying again but he couldn't help it, what was he supposed to do? There was almost nothing more he wanted to do but go back with Tala and never leave him again, but he just couldn't risk other people's happiness for his own. "I just can't" He sounded defeated and he knew it.

            "I won't stop you if that's what you think you have to do, but just tell me why? Why did you leave and why can't you come back? Please?" Tala was the one pleading. Slowly he released the other man's hands but didn't move from his perch, which on some level both of them were enjoying.

            "I had to go, I have to go. Voltaire is still chasing me to this day; he almost killed Rei that day. I couldn't stand that, the thought that someone that had been so nice to me could die or be hurt because they knew me. I couldn't stand the fact I was the reason everyone was still so fearful of attack. Most of them still have no idea the kind of pain he could possibly inflict upon people but I knew, that's why." Kai finished sounding defeated. "I couldn't let them get hurt, and I especially couldn't let you get hurt, and he would have gone after you. You were the closest one to me so you would have been his first target. Besides there was something I never told you that would have made you all the more hunted, so I fled taking the eye away form you all."

            Tala leaned over and began to rub away the new tears that were falling down the blue haired man's cheeks, as he did so the blue markings on Kai's cheeks became visible again. "Why didn't you tell me before you left, and why haven't you ever called. How do you think I could ever be happy with out you? What did you never tell me?" Tala asked still rubbing the soft cheeks, Kai almost seemed to be arching into the touches but Tala couldn't tell.

            "I tired so hard to tell you before I left but I just couldn't. That day after the attack on Rei I went to go tell you what had happened and my decision I thought you deserved to know. But I saw you with her, and you kissed her. I just couldn't bear to tell you that I was leaving, I didn't figure you'd even notice for a while anyway." Kai now turned his face away, he knew if looked at the man he had loved for years he wouldn't be able to stop his tongue from telling what he'd always wanted to say.

            "Why couldn't you tell me when I was with her, she didn't matter any way. I lost most of my memory for years because I couldn't deal with the fact you were gone."

            "I'm sorry I never meant to hurt you." The tears were on in full force again, "I only ever wanted you to be happy, that's why I couldn't tell you anything when you were with her. It hurt so bad to see you two together, I just couldn't tell you. I couldn't ruin your picture perfect relationship by telling you I loved you and I was leaving!" Kai blurted out, he clapped his hands over his mouth as he realized what he had said. Tala looked down at him in shock for a moment. In that moment Kai regained himself and started to struggle. "I'm sorry, please don't hate me. I didn't mean for it to happen, and I know you don't feel the same that's why I never told you." Kai was panicked now, he had let his biggest secret slip and now Tala not only would be mad at him for leaving but for loving him as well, and it was more than he could deal with. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Santa, that's my only wish this year_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            'He loves me, or at least loved me!' Tala thought in shock as he sat on the other boy. He felt the other man struggling again to escape from him, and his pleas.

            "I could never hate you Kai. Please calm down." Tala spoke soothingly trying to calm down the blue haired man. "I just wish you had told me a long time ago." He could feel Kai stop his struggle but his body was now trembling still very much afraid of him. Glancing above him to try and collect his thoughts Tala caught sight of something above them. "Kai did you realize where we are?" He asked nonchalantly, he had figured out the solution to their problems.

            "N…No, just between my bedroom and the living room." His voice held the unasked question. Instead of answering Tala pointed to the spot above his head. There hung from the top of the door frame was a lone sprig of mistletoe. Kai's face turned bright red.

            "You know what that means right?" Tala asked his voice dropping a bit to sound more seductive.

            "Y…Yes I do but you don't have to, it's just a stupid tradition." Kai mumbled still trembling beneath the red head. Tala grinned almost predator like.

            "What if I said I wanted to kiss you and I have for a long time, but just not realized it?" Tala asked slowly moving in closer to the other's slightly parted lips. "And what if I told you that, that day at the park I told that girl to sod off because I knew I loved someone else? And that I was not going to let him go again?" Tala was now hovering right over Kai's lips their breaths mingling together.

            I'd say I just got the best Christmas present ever." Kai said as he stopped trembling and gained back some of his old self that he had not had in years. He closed the gap between their lips, and before that had even registered in Tala's mind he had flipped them over so he was now on top and they continued the kiss. It was sweet, but demanding and it just felt right to both of them. The two best friends had become the best of lovers, and somehow the future didn't seem as bleak and the threat of an evil man seemed to dim. All that matter was the here and now, the feeling of finally being complete.

**THE END**  
 

Hey thank you for reading all of this long story, I'm sorry it was so long but I wanted it to only be one chapter. Plus I just wanted to get it over with because it was supposed to be a Christmas present. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. I love to hear comments, especially good ones or constructive ones! IADM

  
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